1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the use of a heat pipe coupled with a solar panel to transfer heat in and out of a building such as a house and the combination with a heat storage unit to store the solar heat in the building.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of heat pipes to transfer heat has been known. Generally a heat pipe may be defined as a closed container housing a vaporizable liquid as the heat transfer medium. The heat transfer medium is evaporated at one location by absorption of heat and condensed at another location by the extraction of heat. The condensed liquid is returned to the heat absorption portion either by gravity or by a wick.
The use of a heat pipe to transfer heat from one enclosure to another is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,932. There heat pipes are angularly mounted on a rotating holding device with the pipes at a fixed angular offset from the axis of the rotating holder. By rotating the holder the lower side of the heat pipes will always be in the warmer enclosure and the liquid will flow down to this lower end by gravity. This heat transfer unit requires the holding device and the means to mount the holding device so that it can rotate at an angular inclination.
Solar energy has also been used to provide heat to be transferred inside a building. One mode of operation is to have the sun's rays warm a panel. A liquid flowing in contact with the panel absorbs the heat from the panel and the liquid is then pumped inside the building where the heat content can be stored.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,085 the sun's rays are directed to a solar energy collector which is one end of a heat pipe. The solar heat produces a vapor which is transferred to the other end of the pipe where it condenses. The heat released will be transferred into the building by a liquid that flows from the heat producing condensation zone of the heat pipe to the inside of the building. Such a system requires this additional fluid circuit, the losses in heat transfer to the liquid from the heat pipe and a pump to maintain the fluid circulating.
It is an object of the present invention to use solar energy to provide heat inside a building while eliminating the use of a circulating fluid which is heated on the outside of the building and then pumped to the inside of the building.
It is a further object of the invention to utilize a passive heat pipe to deliver heat to the inside of a building where it can be stored in a heat storage unit.
It is a further object of the invention to utilize a reversible heat pipe which can transfer heat to the inside in the winter and transfer the heat to the outside in summer for cooling by merely rotating the heat pipe.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a solar energy transfer device which can be readily inserted in a building and which can be removed when it is no longer required.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide a heat pipe having a cylindrical portion where it is possible to turn off the heat pipe by merely rotating the pipe so as to prevent the flow of fluid in the pipe.
It is another object of the invention to provide a heat pipe that can be turned on and off to prevent the flow of fluid in the pipe without having to rotate the pipe.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a heat pipe for transferring solar energy from the outside of a building to the inside of a building where the transferred heat is released to the inside heat absorber.
It is a further object of the invention to have the heat absorber for storing heat in the form of a plurality of layers of a crystallizable substance where each layer is separated from the other by a heat conductive metal tray.
It is a further object to provide a modular wall unit in which the solar panel forms one side of the wall, and the heat absorber forms the other side of the wall. The space between the two is filled with an insulating material and there is at least one controllable heat pipe to transfer heat back and forth.
Other objects, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent when the detailed description is considered with the drawings.